Dragon Drones: Thermite Drones Used by Ukraine and Russia

What a Dragon Drone Is and How the Thermite Works

A dragon drone is an unmanned aircraft configured to spray or drop burning thermite over ground targets. Thermite is a mix of aluminium powder and iron oxide, and it burns into molten metal without an explosive charge. Sources give different peak temperatures. Ukrainska Pravda cites up to 2,200°C, and Militarnyi cites up to 2,400°C. The War Zone gives about 4,440°F (roughly 2,450°C), and Wikipedia lists up to 2,500°C, with an adiabatic limit of 2,862°C.

German chemist Hans Goldschmidt discovered the thermite reaction in 1893 and filed a patent in 1895, and the mixture was first used to weld railway tracks. In military applications, the mixture has mainly been used in hand grenades and artillery shells. When a drone releases it, the material sprays downwards as molten metal, igniting foliage and positions in trenches below.

Two sources in Ukrainian units told Ukrainska Pravda how the drones are used in the Ukraine-Russia war. The drones are regular first-person-view (FPV) drones with a thermite container attached, used mainly against infantry sheltering in forest strips. Kyiv drone-munitions maker Steel Hornets said in a Telegram post, as reported by The War Zone, that its thermite munition burns instead of exploding. Steel Hornets said the munition is designed to be dropped from up to 30 metres. The burning stream strips away the foliage that hides positions. The Khyzhak brigade says Russian thermite drones also burn anti-drone nets.

Where Dragon Drones Came From

According to The War Zone, the first video of Ukrainian dragon drones appeared on social media on 2 September 2024, with another on 3 September. On 4 September 2024, Ukraine's 60th Mechanized Brigade published a video montage demonstrating a drone spraying burning thermite directly along a Russian-occupied tree line. That same week, Ukraine's Ministry of Defence distributed operational footage recorded in the Kharkiv direction, crediting the strike to the 42nd Mechanized Brigade.

Other Ukrainian units posted their own footage. The 116th Khorne Group distributed a 22-second thermite-drone video. Militarnyi documented that in September 2024, the 108th Territorial Defense Brigade operated an FPV drone carrying an incendiary mixture, probably iron thermite, to burn a forest belt situated in the Zaporizhzhia grey zone.

By October 2024, Ukrainian units were also using thermite drones against bunkers and tanks. As reported by The War Zone, a 3 October 2024 post showed a drone spraying thermite directly onto a Russian bunker. The following day, Ukraine's Ministry of Defence credited the 30th Mechanized Brigade with using a thermite drone that made several passes and destroyed a Russian tank.

Russia's Copies, Including the Molniya

Russian forces began attempting to replicate the thermite payload delivery method within days of Ukraine's initial videos. In early September 2024, the Ukrainian channel Landmines and Coffee published footage of a Russian prototype drone using thermite extracted from a Soviet-era 3VZ4 120 mm incendiary mortar bomb. According to analysis by Kyiv Post, that improvised drone crashed in flames.

Kyiv Post reported on 13 September 2024 that pro-Moscow journalist Andrey Medvedev had posted a video of Russia's Omut Group drone unit. The video was said to show the unit deploying a thermite FPV drone for the first time. Kyiv Post's author called the Russian version underwhelming. It let out a dribble of sparks and did little visible damage.

Ukrainian forces later documented fixed-wing Russian drones carrying incendiary payloads. In December 2025, Militarnyi reported that soldiers from Ukraine's Rarog regiment had intercepted a Russian Molniya fixed-wing drone carrying a suspended dispenser that sprayed an incendiary mixture. Wild Hornets posted the intercept footage on X. Ukrainian outlets NV and UkraNews reported a second case around 21 May 2026. The Patrol Police Khyzhak brigade said its mobile fire group shot down a Molniya fitted with a thermite dispenser over Kostiantynivka and published video of the shootdown.

Documented Dragon-Drone Incidents

Battlefield documentation of thermite drone operations relies on video records released by combat units, state ministries, and monitoring organizations. The table below lists the incidents in the sources cited on this page, with the operating side, the platform used, and whether each report is confirmed or rests on a unit's own video.

Because neither military publishes standardized performance statistics or casualty rosters for thermite weapons, entries reflect confirmed publications or direct battlefield reporting rather than verified post-strike assessments.

Are Dragon Drones Legal Under International Law

The War Zone and the Lieber Institute both place dragon drones under Protocol III of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), which regulates incendiary weapons. Article 1(1) defines an incendiary weapon as any weapon primarily designed to set fire to objects or cause burn injury through flame or heat resulting from a chemical reaction. Article 1(1)(b) explicitly excludes munitions that cause incidental incendiary effects, such as illuminants, tracers, smoke, or signalling systems. Human Rights Watch notes that 117 states are party to Protocol III and both Russia and Ukraine are parties, while the Lieber Institute notes neither has made reservations.

In a legal review for the Lieber Institute at West Point, Kevin S. Coble and Alexander Hernandez conclude that thermite fits the definition of an incendiary weapon, noting its listing in the US Department of Defense Law of War Manual. They conclude that incendiary weapons are not unlawful per se and that dragon drones do not appear unlawful per se. In their view, lawfulness depends on how the drones are used. Under CCW Protocol III Article 2(1), incendiary attacks on civilians or civilian objects are prohibited in all circumstances. Article 2(2) strictly prohibits the use of air-delivered incendiary weapons against any military objective located within a concentration of civilians.

Article 2(4) specifically regulates vegetative targets, banning incendiary attacks on forests or plant cover unless the vegetation conceals combatants or military objectives, or is itself a military objective. According to the Lieber Institute analysis, burning foliage that conceals defensive positions would be lawful under Article 2(4), while spraying thermite into a town to burn all its structures would be an indiscriminate attack. Human Rights Watch argues that the treaty contains loopholes because its scope covers weapons primarily designed to burn rather than their operational effects, and because ground-launched incendiary weapons face weaker rules than air-delivered ones in areas with concentrations of civilians. Human Rights Watch also documents that Russia has blocked proposals on incendiary weapons at CCW meetings since 2021.

How Dragon Drones Are Countered

Documented counters to thermite drones include interceptor drones and small-arms fire.

Over Kostiantynivka, small-arms fire from the Khyzhak brigade's mobile fire group brought down a thermite-bearing Molniya. Reports differ on whether a soldier shot off the payload container first or hit the gimbal before comrades finished the drone.

In reporting published by Militarnyi, Ukraine's Rarog regiment used a Wild Hornets drone to intercept a Russian Molniya carrying a suspended incendiary container. Militarnyi says the Russian troops behind that flight were probably trying to set fire to a forest or damage protective corridors. The Khyzhak brigade says Russian thermite drones also target anti-drone nets.

How to Read a Viral Dragon-Drone Clip

A dragon-drone clip without a date, location, or unit cannot be matched to any incident in the table above. One example is a viral Instagram reel posted in October 2026 by the account the.rushbyte, captioned as coming from DBC News. No outlet or fact-check discussing the reel could be found, so its origin, date, and authenticity are unverified.

Start with the airframe. In the sourced reports, Ukrainian dragon drones are regular FPV drones, while the Russian container reports involve the fixed-wing Molniya. Then look at what falls from it. Ukrainian footage shows burning molten metal, while Russia's September 2024 attempts either crashed in flames or emitted a dribble of sparks.

Check who first posted the clip. A clip from a unit such as the 60th Mechanized Brigade, or from Ukraine's Ministry of Defence, carries a date and a unit. A repost that gives no date or unit cannot be matched to any row in the table. The sourced record starts with Ukrainian footage in September 2024 and Russian copies the same month. The Molniya container reports came later, with an interception reported in December 2025 and a downing over Kostiantynivka around 21 May 2026. Before sharing a clip, match its airframe, date, and unit against the incident table above.